Master List of Color Names and Color Descriptions

This is a list of color names as well as color descriptions that relate to specific objects. Sometimes I think of a list I wished I had included in my book Master Lists for Writers, so I put it here!

I’ve tried to list the more familiar or clichéd descriptions first and then the fresher descriptions, though I haven’t tried to get it in perfect cliché-to-fresh order. Characters may still use clichés when they are speaking — sometimes, that’s just realistic dialogue.

Some of these suggest other qualities in addition to color, such as texture. Please note that many of these are not appropriate to use in describing a person’s skin color.

Just adding a more specific word can make a description more striking. For example, “white as paper” is okay. “White as copier paper” is more evocative, and might be perfect if you’re writing about someone in an office setting. “Black as a moonless night” stirs up a little more mystery than “black as night.”

Some of the more common color descriptions and phrases are actually outdated and/or a bit weird. We say “pitch black,” but few of us refer to “pitch” in that way otherwise (it’s a kind of tar.) We say “powder blue,” but what light blue powder is that referring to? “Brown as a berry” makes no sense at all.

Color descriptions can even evoke the worldview of a character in a fantasy, science fiction, or historical novel, such as “white as the robe of a priestess” or “black as a model T Ford.” A few of the descriptions on the list are pretty specific to the United States.

In some cases, the object being evoked may come in different colors, and that’s okay as long as you’re referring to the most standard color.

23 Comments

I am in my seventies now but when I was growing up and we bought new clothes many had the colour description as “powder blue”. I remember buying a new jigger coat in powder blue. Jigger coat being a short loose coat so both these sayings will probably be written by someone older.

Thank you so much for these. I printed them all out and I have them with your book “Master Lists for Writers”; I just got this book last week. LOVE IT and thank you so much for the book also. Take care!

This is a wonderful list. I’ve always loved cerulean – not just as a color, but as a word – because it feels more evocative than sky blue. I’ve also liked ice blue which, I suppose, is derivative of your glacial blue. Oh, and gun-metal grey. Congrats, you now have my mind spinning like the Apple Wheel of Death.

I love this list! I know with the color red, I enjoy the words scarlet and blood red when reading. Actually, one of my favorite books is “Blood Orange” by Drusilla Campbell. The title caught my attention. I’ve never heard “grey as a dust bunny.” I need to bookmark this and thanks for sharing.

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